


Prestissimo

by worriedpeach (skeletonflowers)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Awkward Flirting, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Comedy, Enemies to Lovers, Flirting, Fluff, Getting Together, High School, Love Letters, M/M, Orchestra, Pick-Up Lines, Romantic Comedy, Secret Admirer, Secret Crush, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 22:57:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13691589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skeletonflowers/pseuds/worriedpeach
Summary: When Dan starts to get notes in his locker in the form of terrible pick up lines, he doesn't know who it could be and he doesn't really care. All he cares about is his violin and his studies. He could care less about the nonchalant cellist who never seems to take anything seriously.





	Prestissimo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dandelionisonfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dandelionisonfire/gifts).



> This was supposed to go up on valentine's day, but it's only two and a half hours late so it's better than nothing! I really wanted to get this up because it's my dear friend Mae (dandelionisonfire)'s birthday on Valentine's Day, and I really wanted to give her a birthday present in the form of a fic to show my appreciation to her. We've only started talking a few weeks ago, but I feel like we've gotten along so well so fast and I'm extremely grateful for that. I appreciate her and our long rambles on skype, and how she watches all of my dumb singing videos without question. Thanks for being awesome, Mae. Jeg elsker deg og gratulerer med dagen xoxo

The first time that Dan got a letter inside of his locker, he thought it was a joke. 

It wasn’t like it was just a normal letter. Maybe if it had said something like “hey, nice shoes,” then Dan would be more accepting of it, but no. It _didn’t_ say that. Dan would have preferred the shoes thing to this disgrace, in all honesty, because it would have saved his face from turning a disgusting splotchy red in the middle of the orchestra locker room. 

In curling letters that was somewhat sloppy but not too terribly hard to read, someone had scrawled Dan’s name, along with a short message that said, _“I C Major potential in us getting together_.”

Dan glanced around the room to see if the culprit was there, which was pointless because it was after school hours so the only other people around were the other four members of Dan’s quintet. They weren’t even in the locker room, having already gone to one of the practice rooms to start setting up. Dan was all alone with one of the worst pick up lines in the history of pick up lines and his violin, and now he just wanted to go home and bury himself in his blanket. He didn’t want to practice anymore. 

He was embarrassed and mortified, because what if somebody was playing a trick on him? It’s not every day that Dan got notes like this shoved in his violin locker, and it was beyond rare for someone to actually _like_ him enough to want to do this for him. But then again, did they even like him if it was just a simple pick up line? Wouldn’t they rather write Dan an entire love letter?

Dan didn’t know and he didn’t really want to find out. 

Making up his mind on the subject, he crumbled it up and shoved the paper into his pocket. Out of sight, out of mind. It was probably just a one-time thing anyways. He didn’t need to have the extra stress of poorly written pick up lines when he had more important things to focus on, like his studies and his violin. 

In Dan’s opinion, getting good grades and playing his violin was the number one goal in life at the moment. If he got good grades, then he’d get into a good university. If he played the violin better than anybody, he could get a scholarship to one of the best music schools. So he’d focus on grades and violin and that was it. He didn’t need anybody else to interfere with his future. 

He made his way into the practice room, carefully holding his instrument by the neck and his bow in the other hand. When he walked into the class, his fellow quintet was standing by the bass stands as Bailey grabbed her bass and Phil leaned against the wall with his cello leaning against the wall as well. Dan cringed at the sight of that, hoping with his entire heart and soul that the cello would _not_ fall over and break. Knowing Phil, he would just laugh and pick it back up while Dan got an aneurism in the background. 

Dan kept an eye on the cello as he greeted the violist, Mae, and the other violinist, Oliver. They were talking about cats, which is something that Dan could definitely get behind, and just gave Dan a friendly nod as he joined them. 

He liked everyone in the quintet, for the most part. The only person that he _really_ had a problem with was Phil. They both had opposing personalities, which was a tricky subject when it came to them. Because they were in a quintet together, that meant they had to spend literally _every day_ together. They were in orchestra together during school, had the same group of people they hung around, and then they spent an insane amount of time together after school just practicing in the quintet together.

Yet Dan couldn’t _stand_ Phil. Phil didn’t take his music seriously, he was just doing this for fun because he had nothing else to do. Whereas Dan took this very seriously and loved music with his every being and played every piece by the rules, Phil was unruly and didn’t care about the rules. He was too expressive and free when he played, even translating piano music to the cello when it _was supposed to be the fucking piano_. When Dan got worked up about it and how the music is written for piano and therefore is supposed to be played on the piano, Phil just shrugged and did a little half smile as he nonchalantly said, “Yeah, well isn’t it our job as musicians to interpret the music in the way we want to? It’d get boring otherwise.”

A disgrace! Phil was a disgrace! Dan even overheard him nonchalantly telling somebody that he played the cello before like it was no big deal and he had no pride. 

Dan _despised_ that. 

Phil should be proud of his instrument. He should want to boast about how well he played and how he was in the best quintet in the school, picked specially by their teacher to perform in different competitions. It wasn’t easy for people to get into such a spot like this, and yet Phil had, but he didn’t even _care about it._

Phil nodded politely at Dan as he joined him. “Sup?” Phil asked, and Dan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. 

“Hi,” Dan replied dryly, grabbing his music stand and setting up. He didn’t really like to talk much to the other people in his quintet, although he was friendly towards them. They were a nice bunch, but Dan didn’t form bonds with people easily and he was just there for the music, nothing else. 

However, this practice, he had trouble getting into the music for a good thirty minutes. He could practically feel the paper in his pocket burning a hole through his clothing, and he wanted to forget about it, but he just couldn’t. He couldn’t get the words out of his head, couldn’t stop wondering who the handwriting belonged to. With each stroke of his bow, he would be zoning out, staring at the notes but not really processing anything else. 

Eventually, he did manage to forget about it, losing himself to the music, but he felt strange about it. It was to be expected, after all. It wasn’t every day that Dan got a pick up line in his locker, and he doubted that this happened to many people at all.

The pick up lines didn’t stop at the first one either. Soon enough, Dan had gotten one every day for an entire _week_. They ranged from things like ‘ _aside from being sexy, what do you do for a living?’_ and ‘ _is your name microsoft because you can crash at my place anytime.’_ They all varied in corniness but they made Dan smile nonetheless, mostly because he could hardly believe this was happening to him. 

At this point, Dan wasn’t sure if it was a joke anymore. If it was a joke, then it was a really fucking good one and somebody was extremely committed to it. Dan would find the notes in his locker most of the time, the note just waiting for him on top of his violin case. Whenever he looked around, there would be nobody waiting for him, nobody who he could question about if they were his secret admirer or not. 

Today, though, when he pulled out the note, Phil suddenly appeared, peering over his shoulder. “What’s that?” he asked in that stupid relaxed voice that Dan hated so much. Dan shuffled away from Phil slightly because Phil was so close that Dan could feel his warmth, could smell his cologne clogging his senses. Yeah, Dan may hate the dude but he wasn’t blind and he was fucking _gay_. “A love note?”

“Oh fuck off,” Dan snapped, snatching the note away from Phil’s sight before he could read it, but he knew he was too late as Phil chuckled and raised his eyebrows. 

“ _You had me at cello_?” Phil asked, and then he was laughing so hard that his tongue poked out of his mouth and his hands were clutching at his stomach. 

Dan’s cheeks turned red and he scowled, shoving the note into his pocket and away from Phil’s line of vision. “Shut the fuck up!” Dan snapped, pouting out his lip and slamming his violin locker shut. “The notes that I get are none of your business and it’s rude of you to look over my shoulder like that.”

Phil stopped laughing abruptly and frowned. It was the first time that Dan had ever seen him look so serious, even after he had known him at a close proximity for such a long amount of time. His lips were turned downwards and he even had a slightly concerned look in his eyes. Who knew that Phil, so carefree all the time, could look like this once in a while? “Sorry, Dan,” he said sincerely, ducking his head. The action made his black hair fall into his eyes and Dan’s heart was suddenly in his throat. For some reason, he didn’t like when Phil made that expression. Phil should always be carefree. Not… like _this_. “I was just trying to kid around with you, but I won’t do something like that again if it makes you uncomfortable. I never meant to make you feel like that.”

The hand that was holding his violin tightened and Dan found himself nearly choking on his spit. It wasn’t really such a big deal, and yet he had been making it out to be something _terrible_ just because he disliked Phil. Dan always tried to pride himself on not being too horribly mean to anybody, but here he was getting his panties tied in a bunch just because Phil saw some stupid pick up line for Dan. “It’s- It’s fine,” Dan sputtered, trying to calm his stuttering heart and clammy hands. “Let’s just get back to practice, okay?”

Phil agreed and they walked into the practice room together for the first time since they joined the school’s orchestra five years ago. In all the time that they’d known each other, they had never walked in at the same time, but Dan supposed there was a first for everything. They didn’t speak to each other, just walked in, joining the others in conversation about how Mae was going to Saint Petersburg over the summer. 

When Dan played his violin that day, he felt as though he couldn’t focus on the music. Although he could play every note perfectly and he knew exactly when to crescendo and when to rest, his heart wasn’t in it and his mind was elsewhere. He was hyper aware of the way Phil was standing close to him, his eyebrows furrowed, suddenly seeming more serious about the music than he ever had before.

For some reason, Dan didn’t think that it was the music Phil was so serious about. He didn’t know why that bothered him so much. 

It didn’t involve him. _It didn’t involve him_. 

-

Dan knew his day was going to be different the moment he failed to get a note in his locker. 

He looked all over, from underneath his violin case, to the lockers surrounding his, and even on the _floor_. No note. No stupid pun that would tell him why he was cute or why he and this mystery person would be great together. 

He tried not to let it get to him, he really didn’t, but it was hard because for over a week, he was used to laughing at the dumb pick up lines, and now he felt like he’d gotten this little secret stripped away from him as soon as he was getting used to it. It hurt. Perhaps his admirer had gotten tired of him. Perhaps they’d seen just how utterly boring Dan was, how he only cared about grades and violin, and they didn’t want to put up with that. Perhaps they really _had_ been doing it just for laughs. 

Without meaning to, Dan slammed his locker shut and flicked the lock closed. Doing so made Phil, who had been chatting to Oliver, jump. They both turned towards Dan, staring in surprise as Dan whipped around and began to stalk towards the music room. His sadness had turned to anger and for once in his life, he really wanted to smash his dumb violin to pieces. 

How could he think someone could actually _like_ him for once? 

As he grabbed a music stand and began to lay out his sheet music, a presence at his side notified him of Phil, who was cradling his cello to his body and cocking his head in concern. It made Dan even more annoyed because somebody like Phil - who never cared about _anything_ \- was even worried about Dan. 

How sad. 

“You okay, Dan?” Phil asked gently, and Dan angrily slammed his sheet music onto the stand, flipping to a random page to make himself look busy. 

“ _Peachy_ , thanks,” Dan snarled, trying not to take note of the way Phil flinched at his tone. 

Phil stared at him, mouth slightly open with surprise, and it took everything in Dan not to tell him to fuck off. What Dan _did_ do was give him a slightly exasperated looked, eyebrows raised expectantly. “Can I help you with something?” he asked sarcastically. 

It seemed like Phil was torn, his eyes flickering over Dan’s face and then back towards the classroom door where their teacher would be walking through at any moment. He bit his lips, turning the pink skin white, and then he was running a hand through his fringe, making little strands stick up this way and that. Eventually, he seemed to not be able to hold it in anymore, and blurted out a string of words that made Dan’s eyes widen and his head snap up so fast that it nearly gave him whiplash. 

“Every time you walk in the room, you make my heart play prestissimo,” Phil said quickly, stuttering a little bit. He was running his hand over the neck of his cello, making a light rubbing noise with the strings. “When I'm with you, my heart starts to syncopate. If it’s okay with you, I’d love to do a duet with you and get a coffee sometime?”

Dan gaped at him. And gaped some more. For a moment, he forgot how to breathe, like all of the air in his lungs just left his entire body. He gasped like a fish struggling for breath, and it was only after Phil started to shuffle awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, that Dan was able to even figure out an answer. “Have you been the one putting notes in my locker?” he asked dumbly, even though it was fairly obvious by now that Phil _was._

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to ask you on a date for weeks- no months. No, _years_ ,” Phil replied sheepishly. When Dan just stared at him, Phil went on. “You’re not exactly the easiest person to approach, you know? I didn’t think I had a chance since you don’t like me and all.”

“Wha- don’t like you?!” Dan sputtered, as though this was news to him. But he was having trouble wrapping his head around this. “Why do you say that?”

Phil gave him an unimpressed look. “You haven’t exactly been hiding your dislike for me, Dan. You’re sassy as fuck with people you don’t like.”

That really stumped Dan there. But _still_. “How fucking long have you liked me? And why did you just now tell me?”

It was clear that his questions were making Phil embarrassed by the way Phil’s cheeks were turning pink and his nose was beginning to scrunch up, eyes sheepish. The rest of the quintet was joining them in the room, and it was clear they really needed to hurry this up otherwise they were going to get interrupted very soon. “I’ve liked you since I first met you, the first day we joined orchestra,” Phil told him sincerely. “You were so pretty and glowing when you decided to play the violin, and I wanted to get to know you so badly. I just didn’t think you’d want anything to do with me, but I recently realised that I’d rather at least try to woo you than to never know at all, you know?”

Dan could feel his heart begin to beat rapidly in his chest. He felt so weirdly full that he could hardly stand still. His hands messed with his instrument and he bounced a little on the balls of his feet, giddy with the cheesy proclamation. 

He couldn’t believe that _Phil_ of all people, stupid, uncaring Phil, had a _crush_ on him. Dan! How in the hell had that happened? And how had Phil held this same crush for _years_? 

Dan didn’t know, but he wanted to find out. That was one definite in his life that he knew for sure. So before he knew it, he was nodding wildly, grin slowly taking over his face. 

“Yeah?” Phil asked, lighting up like a torch. His tongue stuck out from between his teeth and it was the most endearing thing Dan’s ever seen. “You’ll go on a date with me?”

Their teacher called them to their places, but Dan and Phil didn’t move as they grinned and stared at each other. Dan nodded once more, a bit softer, his stomach feeling like it was melting completely. “Yeah, I’ll go on a date with you,” Dan murmured quietly. 

It seemed that Phil was just as giddy as Dan, because suddenly he was lurching forward and placing a kiss to the dimple that was showing in Dan’s cheek. The kiss burned, like a fire was alight in his entire body, and it was pleasant, new, _exciting_. Dan wanted to get to know Phil. He wanted to get to know the serious side, who was passionate about things outside of the cello. He wanted to know the goofy side that wrote dumb pickup lines on paper. He wanted to know the side of Phil that got sad about things, and about the things that made him happy. 

“And Dan?” 

Dan hummed, smiling as they began to make their way to their seats, instruments in hand.

“This cello isn’t the only big wooden thing between my legs, you know.”

Well, maybe Dan didn’t want to know this side of Phil after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know what you guys think!


End file.
